Sunday, May 16th "Tennis in San Jose de la Rinconada"

Spent the morning today practicing my tennis skills after several months off. The absence of free public courts in Seville has hurt my game. While courts are public, they aren't free! In many cases you need to reserve well in advance, or try booking them with a group of people for once a week for several hours. If you're lucky and there's nobody after your time slot you may get to play more. Certainly there are some closer to me than in the pueblo of San Pablo de la Rinconada, but it's where my cuñao has reserved courts and that's where we headed at 8:30am on a Sunday. This is not an ideal time if you're out late on Saturday, but when the summer months come it should be better to avoid the heat.

Upon arriving in town we hit a cafe nearby for coffee and to meet with whoever from the group decided to show up. Just two other players on this day, meaning we could play doubles for the entire time. Before we headed out several cigarettes were smoked along with a few cafes - I kept thinking this was not a scene too common in the U.S. before playing tennis. And the fellow next to me who downed a shot or two of Anis didn't help either.

Four sets later - one of singles - and I had managed to lose each time. 2-6, 0-6, 2-6 and then my singles match of 6-7. There will be better days ahead if I continue to play. Now we'll just have to do something about that 8:30am Sunday start time.